Is Your Nonprofit Nearing the Capacity Cliff?

Take this 5-minute self-check to spot the cracks before they cost you momentum.

If you check more than two boxes — book your free consult now before the cliff gets closer.

Your next event is coming.

Your comms team is stretched—or in transition.

And your best stories? Stuck in Dropbox.

Sound familiar?

Use this quick checklist to find out if you’re headed for a communications cliff—and what to do next.

She's a badass, but we don't want to scale communications cliffs unless we have to.

✅ Capacity Cliff Checklist

Check all that apply:

* We’re between comms staff or no one “owns” communications

* We have an event, campaign, or grant deliverable coming up—without a plan

* Our ED is acting as spokesperson *and* doing the messaging

* We haven’t emailed our list in 3+ months

* We got media coverage last year but didn’t leverage it

* Our story assets are scattered or unused

* We just hired a new comms director who needs support

* Different staff or volunteers give different answers about who we are

* We’ve missed or mishandled media opportunities

* We landed a big grant and need to show our impact

🔎 Score yourself:

0–1: Green Zone. Solid footing—stay steady.

2–5: Warning Signs. Time to get strategic.

6–10: You’re at the Cliff. It’s urgent to realign your messaging + media strategy.

No matter where you are, we have a simple Capacity Cliff Toolkit to help. Download the free next step guide below.

Download the Capacity Cliff Kit

How one org avoided a comms free-fall One advocacy organization came to me without any dedicated internal communications support — yet they were tasked with sharing complex, often hot-button updates to a diverse audience of stakeholders, donors, and community members.

They needed clarity and a plan, but not one that would overload their already stretched team.

We worked together to streamline their language, cutting through jargon while keeping nuance intact. I developed a 6-month PR roadmap they could confidently implement themselves — one that respected both their team’s bandwidth and the sensitivity of their content.

The result?

• Their messaging landed without backlash or confusion

• Their team felt confident in what to say (and what to leave out)

• They built consistent visibility without adding new staff or burning out existing ones
  

This is the power of getting ahead of the capacity cliff.

Strategic PR Support for Teams in Transition

Small Adventures Communications offers **6-month PR partnerships** that help values-driven orgs:

* Clarify messaging across staff, board, and media

* Build media relationships with aligned outlets

* Support overextended or new comms staff

* Turn scattered stories into strategic visibility

Get the Kit + Book a Call →